-April 1,2020-
VISALIA: Visalia clothing retailers like their counterparts nationwide are literally taking it in the shorts economically, as they and their employees suffer in this unusual virus-related shutdown.
Unless – that is -your retail store sells not just clothing but also“essential” retail items like food and drugs.
Major clothing retailers like Macy’s, Penny’s, Kohl’s,Ross and Old Navy are shut down tight this week but rival retailers including Walmart, Target and Costco are still selling plenty of cloths along with their assortment of other items including food and drugs.
More than 70 national retailers have closed storefronts, and dozens more have limited hours and partial closures.Clustered retailers like those at the Visalia Mall ,other malls and the Tulare Outlets are also closed going into a second week with no plan to open as of yet in April.
Visalia Mall director Rick Fedder calls the crisis”unprecedented” but adds the “shelter in place” rules need to be followed.”We will get through this” he promises.
With no money coming in the door many of these major retailers are at least temporality letting their employees go.
Macy’s says it will temporarily stop paying the majority of its 125,000 employees, including stock people and sales clerks, who will still collect health benefits, but the company said that it is transitioning to an “absolute minimum workforce” needed to maintain basic operations. Macy’s has lost the bulk of its sales due 500 stores closing as of March 18.
Kohl’s,Ross and TJ Maxx has announced the same. Apparently shoes are not essential although you might think different after going barefoot for while. DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, furloughed 80% of its workers recently as well.
Stock down big
Investors are noticing the difference sending the stock of Macy’s down by 62% in March while rival Target – who is open for business – has declined by a more modest 15% in March.
One analysis says “At these shuttered stores the t-shirts, jackets, sneakers and jeans they were gearing up to push out for the spring shopping season now sit sitting in darkened stores and warehouses during the coronavirus crisis. Demand for discretionary items has come to a screeching halt as customers focus on stocking up on the basics they need to survive.
“This is going to be an unprecedented level of inventory that’s available,” said Jamie Merriman, retail analyst at Bernstein. “We haven’t seen demand on a global basis take this sharp a hit in my lifetime.”
Retailers made decisions months ago about what to buy from their suppliers, when the economy was strong and consumer spending was projected to be robust. They could not have imagined that they would be grossly overestimating demand.”